§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what date he laid a report before Parliament on improving access for disabled persons under section 7 of the Disabled Persons Act 1981; and if he will make a statement on the progress made subsequent to that report.
§ Sir George YoungI have been asked to reply.
No such report has been made. Instead, as an alternative to implementing section 6 of the Disabled Persons Act 1981, new building regulations were laid before Parliament on 2 April 1985 and became operational on 1 August. These require that new offices, shops, single-storey factories, educational and public buildings should be accessible to disabled people.
We propose to recast these requirements into the functional form of the new simplified building regulations 1985. A draft approved document is being prepared, giving practical solutions for meeting the access requirements and there will be public consultation in due course.